Economic Study on the European Rail Freight Sector

Europe’s policymakers ask more of rail freight than of almost any other sector: a 50% traffic increase by 2030; and a doubling by 2050.

At the same time, the sector's trajectory points the other way: rail's share of EU inland freight has fallen from 18.8% in 2014 to 16.6% in 2024.

The Economic Study on the European Rail Freight Sector establishes an evidence-based diagnosis of why rail freight is losing ground, assess the economic weight of the obstacles it faces, and identify concrete, prioritised measures to restore its competitiveness.

The study was commissioned by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER) and was carried out through September 2026 by Rel-I, a Brussels-based economic research and public policy consultancy, Ecorys and Prof. Oliviero Baccelli.

Explore the findings below.